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1.1 million people in Gaza facing 'catastrophic' food conditions, and 'famine is imminent' – UN-backed report
A new report by the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) has said that famine is imminent in northern Gaza, and that 1.1 million – half the population – in the territory are facing “catastrophic” food supply conditions.
The report states:
The IPC acute food insecurity analysis conducted in December 2023 warned of a risk that famine may occur by the end of May 2024 if an immediate cessation of hostilities and sustained access for the provision of essential supplies and services to the population did not take place.
Since then, the conditions necessary to prevent famine have not been met and the latest evidence confirms that famine is imminent in the northern governorates and projected to occur anytime between mid-March and May 2024.
It continues:
According to the most likely scenario, both North Gaza and Gaza Governorates are classified in IPC Phase 5 (famine) with reasonable evidence, with 70% (around 210,000 people) of the population in IPC Phase 5 (catastrophe). Continued conflict and the near-complete lack of access to the northern governorates for humanitarian organizations and commercial trucks will likely compound heightened vulnerabilities and extremely limited food availability, access and utilization, as well as access to healthcare, water, and sanitation. The famine threshold for household acute food insecurity has already been far exceeded.
It concludes:
The entire population in the Gaza Strip (2.2 million) is facing high levels of acute food insecurity. Between mid-March and mid-July, in the most likely scenario and under the assumption of an escalation of the conflict including a ground offensive in Rafah, half of the population of the Gaza Strip (1.1 million people) is expected to face catastrophic conditions.
Plan , an NGO that works to advance children’s rights, has responded to the report. CEO Rose Caldwell said:
After months of unimaginable trauma and indiscriminate bombing, the children of Gaza are now facing the horror of starvation and the threat of imminent famine. This entirely man-made catastrophe should be a source of shame for the international community. There can be no excuses: preventing access for humanitarian aid is a clear violation of international humanitarian law. The starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is illegal and immoral.
Earlier, Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy, responding to comments from the EU’s diplomatic chief Josep Borrell that famine in Gaza was man-made, insisted on social media that “Israel is facilitating the delivery of unlimited quantities of aid by air, land, and sea.”
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Al Jazeera has more details on the detention of its journalist Ismail al-Ghoul at the al-Shifa hospital by Israeli forces.
Reporting from Rafah, Hani Mahmoud writes:
Our Al Jazeera Arabic colleague Ismail al-Ghoul and his crew who were sheltering inside the hospital were detained. Witnesses inside the hospital said they were beaten before being taken to an undisclosed location.
On the situation in the medical complex, the news network reports:
We are getting confirmed reports from a doctor inside the hospital that the Israeli military is inside the courtyard of the hospital where bodies are on the ground.
There are also multiple injuries, by the tens. Medical staff and paramedics are unable to get to them and move them inside the building.
Additionally, Al Jazeera reports:
Israeli forces have destroyed the broadcasting vehicles of press crews at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza. The hospital was a base for journalists to report from throughout Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip.
Israeli media reports that Israel’s forces have detained 80 people during the assault on the al-Shifa hospital.
Israel claims to have killed senior member of Hamas at al-Shifa hospital
Israel’s military has claimed to have killed a senior member of Hamas at the al-Shifa hospital complex during its combat operation there this morning.
In a statement, the IDF said:
Eliminated: Faiq Mabhouh, head of the Operations Directorate of Hamas’ Internal Security. Mabhouh was hiding in a compound at the Shifa hospital, from which he operated and advanced terrorist activity.
🔴 Eliminated: Faiq Mabhouh, head of the Operations Directorate of Hamas' Internal Security.
Mabhouh was hiding in a compound at the Shifa hospital, from which he operated and advanced terrorist activity. pic.twitter.com/KFbGto2soE
The claims have not been independently verified.
UNRWA chief says he was denied permission to enter Rafah
Israeli authorities denied permission for the head of the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) to enter the Gaza Strip, Reuters reported.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said that he had intended to go to Rafah today “but I have been informed an hour ago that my entry into Rafah is declined”.
WHO chief 'terribly worried' about Al-Shifa Hospital
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, said today that he is “terribly worried about the situation at Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza.”
In a post on social media, he said “hospitals should never be battlegrounds” and called for a ceasefire.
Hospitals should never be battlegrounds. We are terribly worried about the situation at Al-Shifa Hospital in northern #Gaza, which is endangering health workers, patients and civilians.
The hospital has only recently restored minimal health services. Any hostilities or…
Egypt’s foreign minister, Sameh Shoukry, said today that Washington should make clear to Israel what the consequences of a military push into Rafah on the border with Egypt would be, Reuters reported.
“It is not enough for rhetoric, it is not enough to state opposition, it is also important to indicate what if that position is circumvented, what if that position is not respected,” Shoukry said.
“It is also up to the international community and the United States, who have indicated their refusal to such an eventuality, to make clear what are the consequences if their appeals are not heeded,” he added.
The Palestinian unemployment rate is set to rise to 57% during first quarter of 2024, the Labour Organization said today.
In a statement, the ILO said:
Some 507,000 jobs have been lost across the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) as of the end of January 2024 due to the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, according to new estimates issued by the Labour Organization (ILO) and the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS).
The new data estimates that, as of 31 January, around 201,000 jobs were lost in the Gaza Strip, accounting for around two thirds of total employment in the enclave.
In addition, 306,000 jobs – or over one third of total employment - were also lost in the West Bank, where economic conditions have been severely impacted.
1.1 million people in Gaza facing 'catastrophic' food conditions, and 'famine is imminent' – UN-backed report
A new report by the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) has said that famine is imminent in northern Gaza, and that 1.1 million – half the population – in the territory are facing “catastrophic” food supply conditions.
The report states:
The IPC acute food insecurity analysis conducted in December 2023 warned of a risk that famine may occur by the end of May 2024 if an immediate cessation of hostilities and sustained access for the provision of essential supplies and services to the population did not take place.
Since then, the conditions necessary to prevent famine have not been met and the latest evidence confirms that famine is imminent in the northern governorates and projected to occur anytime between mid-March and May 2024.
It continues:
According to the most likely scenario, both North Gaza and Gaza Governorates are classified in IPC Phase 5 (famine) with reasonable evidence, with 70% (around 210,000 people) of the population in IPC Phase 5 (catastrophe). Continued conflict and the near-complete lack of access to the northern governorates for humanitarian organizations and commercial trucks will likely compound heightened vulnerabilities and extremely limited food availability, access and utilization, as well as access to healthcare, water, and sanitation. The famine threshold for household acute food insecurity has already been far exceeded.
It concludes:
The entire population in the Gaza Strip (2.2 million) is facing high levels of acute food insecurity. Between mid-March and mid-July, in the most likely scenario and under the assumption of an escalation of the conflict including a ground offensive in Rafah, half of the population of the Gaza Strip (1.1 million people) is expected to face catastrophic conditions.
Plan , an NGO that works to advance children’s rights, has responded to the report. CEO Rose Caldwell said:
After months of unimaginable trauma and indiscriminate bombing, the children of Gaza are now facing the horror of starvation and the threat of imminent famine. This entirely man-made catastrophe should be a source of shame for the international community. There can be no excuses: preventing access for humanitarian aid is a clear violation of international humanitarian law. The starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is illegal and immoral.
Earlier, Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy, responding to comments from the EU’s diplomatic chief Josep Borrell that famine in Gaza was man-made, insisted on social media that “Israel is facilitating the delivery of unlimited quantities of aid by air, land, and sea.”
German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock told reporters Monday ahead of an EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels that they were planning to impose sanctions on Hamas and on Israeli West Bank settlers.
“We will finally initiate sanctions against Hamas … in light of this terrible rape, the sexual violence against women in Israel,” she said, referring to acts claimed to have been committed by Hamas during the 7 October attack inside Israel.
“And at the same time we are making it clear here in Brussels: The suffering in Gaza must finally come to an end,” the minister said.
“This war, but this conflict as a whole, can only come to an end if we reach a two-state solution,” Baerbock added. “That is why it is so important for us to make it clear that the construction of settlements, and in particular the violence of radical settlers, is not in line with international law. We will also initiate a sanctions regime for this.”
The UN’s special envoy on sexual violence in conflict has reported “clear and convincing information” that some women and children hostages held by Hamas had been subjected to rape and sexualised torture. In January, Bethan McKernan in Jerusalem reported for the Guardian that there were at least six sexual assaults for which multiple corroborating pieces of evidence exist. Two of those victims, who were murdered, were aged under 18.
Here is a video clip of the EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell accusing Israel of provoking famine in Gaza.
Al Jazeera reports that Israeli forces have arrested one of its journalists at al-Shifa hospital. Other local media have also reported that Ismail al-Ghoul has been detained.
Al Jazeera writes:
We’re getting reports that Israeli forces have arrested Al Jazeera Arabic’s correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul from inside the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. According to Palestinian writer and journalist Imad Zaqqout and other witnesses, al-Ghoul was beaten severely by Israeli soldiers before he was arrested with dozens of men and women within the hospital.
More details soon …
Israel’s foreign minister has said that the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, should “stop attacking Israel”.
In comments on social media, Israel Katz said:
Israel allows extensive humanitarian aid into Gaza by land, air, and sea for anyone willing to help. Despite Hamas violently disrupting aid convoys and UNRWA’s collaboration with them, we persist. It’s time for EU Foreign Minister Josep Borrell to stop attacking Israel and recognise our right to self-defence against Hamas’ crimes.
Israel has accused UNRWA staff members of being involved in the Hamas attack inside Israel on 7 October. It has yet to present evidence of the accusations directly to UNRWA or the UN.
The IDF has announced that a soldier has been killed in the northern Gaza Strip.
EU's Borrell: Gaza no longer 'open air prison', it has become 'open air graveyard'
Lisa O'Carroll
Lisa O’Carroll, the Guardian’s Brussels correspondent, has more on those comments by Josep Borrell:
The EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell condemned Benjamin Netanyahu this morning for creating what he said was a “manmade famine” in Gaza, and urged Israel to allow road deliveries of food immediately.
Arriving at a summit of foreign ministers in Brussels, he said European leaders have told the Israeli prime minister they cannot stand by and watch Palestinians starve to death.
In Gaza we are no longer on the brink of famine, we are in a state of famine affecting thousands of people.
Chancellor Sholz told Benjamin Netanyahu ‘we cannot stand by and watch Palestinians starve’. This famine is not a natural disaster. It is not a flaw. It is not an earthquake. It is entirely manmade.
Chancellor Scholz is saying Europeans cannot sit and watch Palestinian starving, when on the other side of the border there is food for months accumulated in stocks, while on the other side of the road there are people dying of hunger. This requires some action.
The EU, which funds much of the aid to Gaza, said the land border used to handle 500 tonnes of aid a day before the war. At present it was functioning at a level of 100 tonnes a day.
Borrell added: “Before the war, Gaza was the greatest open air prison. Today it is the greatest open air graveyard”.
Yesterday European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, one of Israel’s staunchest supporters in the EU said: “Gaza is facing famine and we cannot accept this.”
